Autumn Artists-In-Residence Programme

The aim of the 2015 programme was to support excellence, innovation and the critical practice of three-dimensional art and to facilitate professional-development opportunities for artists committed to producing ambitious sculptural works.

This programme consisted of a six-week residency for seven selected artists. It took place in Pangaea Sculptors’ Centre’s 2,500ft2 project space: 45 Gransden Avenue, London, E8 3QA, UK. Each resident received technical and curatorial assistance in the realisation of an ambitious new project.

Two exhibitions bookend the programme. Existing work that anticipates the residency were presented at the onset in a four-day exhibition, Taking Shape (1-4 October), which was part of the 2015 Art Licks Weekend. The residency culminated in a longer exhibition for which the project space was transformed to showcase works created during the programme (November – December 2015).

This residency was conceived to support the realisation of pre-existing ideas: a proposition, notion, desire, etc. that had been waiting patiently to be brought into being. For many of the selected artists the reality is that the germ of one idea is born through the realisation or exhibition of a previous work. For others, the creation of new artworks is part of an ongoing and evolving process of research. For all the selected artists, this was an opportunity to realise a project that they had been thinking about for some time, but for one reason or another had not had the right impetus, support, space and/or platform through which to realise this.

Dialogues with leading artworld professionals were programmed to challenge and push the artists-in-residence and their practice. These exchanges act as professional development opportunities as they introduce this work to new curators, collectors and commissioners.
Contributors included:
o Helen Pheby (Lead Curator, Yorkshire Sculpture Park)
o Elizabeth Neilson (Director, Zabludowicz Collection)
o Kirsty Ogg (Director, New Contemporaries)
o Hayley Skipper (Curator, The Forestry Commission)
o Ossian Ward (Head of Content, Lisson)

A temporary workshop and part-time technician supported the residency and offered some assistance with the artworks’ production. To advance PSC’s own research into new forms of studio provision that better reflect contemporary working methods, a reflexive approach to piloting studio configurations with the artists-in-residence took place throughout the six-week period, supported by the PSC team.

A public programme of talks and workshops were run in conjunction with the residency. Find out more about our Autumn Programme here.

We would like to thank Arts Council England for their generous financial support and ongoing encouragement. Without this, neither PSC nor the Centre’s programming would be possible.

ABOUT THE SELECTED ARTISTS

Diffuse Glow (2015), courtesy of the artist

Byzantia Harlow graduated from MA Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2015. Byzantia creates artworks which focus on participation, performativity, aspects of the ‘veneer’, analysis of social situations and subversion of expected interactions. Pivoting on points of value and authenticity, and aspiration and desire, her work investigates commodity, branding, the unique object, the mass produced and cultural identity. As part of her practice, Byzantia organises collaborative projects including Rushgrove House Project and Franchise. Byzantia has performed at the Barbican Centre, given a presentation at Tate Britain, had work published in ARC magazine and is included in the Kabin Contemporary Art Collection.

UnGestalt (2014), courtesy of the artist and Copperfield Gallery

David Rickard is a New Zealand born artist based in London. Following a degree in architecture, he went on to study art at Accademia di Brera in Milan and Central Saint Martins in London. His original studies in architecture have had a lasting impact on his art practice, embedding queries about material and spatial perception deep into his work. His works investigate the inherent material properties of our surrounding environment and the spatial relationships between people, objects and architecture.

Moira’s Lounge (2014), courtesy of the artist

Emily Motto studied at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, and currently lives and works in London. Emily recently had work featured in the Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014 and she has had projects exhibited at the Liverpool Biennial, ICA London and Newlyn Gallery Penzance. Her work was also selected for the Saatchi New Sensations 2014, and shortlisted for the Woon Art Prize. Last year Emily did a residency in Beijing, China with the Redgate Gallery after being selected by the Red Mansion Foundation. She has also made commissions for Absolut and Clyde&Co in London, and the Ashmolean in Oxford.

Installation View (2015), courtesy of Dominic Tschudin/RCA

Jamie Fitzpatrick is a London-based artist whose work deals with types of artistic rhetoric and the relevance of the figure when used as a way of imposing forms of power, authority and nationalistic ideology upon the viewer. Recently graduated from the Royal College of Art, his upcoming exhibitions include Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2015 (selected by Simon Starling, Jessie Flood-Paddock and Hurvin Anderson), showing at Primary & Backlit, One Thoresby Street, Nottingham and ICA, London. Previous exhibitions include Pause Patina at Camden Arts Centre and Cowley Manor 2015, Cowley.

Pouch, from The Cheesedough Series (2014); courtesy of the artist

Matthew de Kersaint Giraudeau creates sculptures, drawings, performances and films. His work addresses abject materials, negative affective states, and the ambiguities of language and objects. Matthew was an Associate of Open School East, 2013-2014. He runs The Bad Vibes Club, is one half of Radio Anti and collaborates with Ben Jeans Houghton as the ARKA group. He lives and works in London.

75 Watt (2013), courtesy of the artists

Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen’s are London based artists working around broad meanings of materials and systems of industrial production. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2008, their work has been exhibited, screened and presented internationally. Recent exhibitions took place at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Vienna, Ernst Schering Foundation and HKW in Berlin, Jerwood Space in London and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, amongst others. Recent talks include ICA London, TENT Rotterdam and Skiff Goma, DRC. Their work is part of the permanent collections of the MoMA, New York and the M+ Museum Hong Kong.